Workers, Citizens, Advocates, Clergy Members and Public Officials Gather to Observe Workers' Memorial Day

On April 27th, several dozen workers, citizens, advocates, clergy members and public
officials gathered in Casper to observe Workers’ Memorial Day. The
event was part of a national effort to fulfill the promise of a safe workplace
for all and pay tribute to those who lost their lives while working.

The statistics are sobering. Between 1992 and 2009 there were 622 workplace
fatalities in Wyoming, an average of one death every ten days.

Workers’ Memorial Day presents an opportunity to step back from statistics,
data, fatality rates and epidemiological studies in order to honor those
who have perished and listen to the stories of their survivors. We heard
one of those stories Friday.

On Feb. 19, 2007, C.J. Moss was electrocuted while working on a drilling
rig. He was 26 years old. C.J. was survived by his wife, Natalie Moss,
and their four-year-old son. Mrs. Moss spoke to the group about the impact
C.J.’s death had on their family, including how she explained the
tragedy to her son.

The need to improve our State’s workplace safety record while transforming
Wyoming’s culture of safety is no longer in dispute. The remaining
issue is how best to accomplish these goals. In the recent Budget session,
Gov. Matt Mead advocated for a cooperative approach – a carrot instead
of a stick – and the legislature listened. In March, the legislature
overwhelmingly passed a bill authorizing seven new safety consultant positions
within Wyoming OSHA. The bill also appropriates $500,000 in grants enabling
employers to increase and provide for effective participation in workplace
safety programs. The bill passed the House of Representatives 52 to 5
and the Senate 26 to 1.

During the Workers’ Memorial Day commemoration, a letter from the
Governor announced that the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services,
the State agency that houses OSHA, had already hired seven new safety
consultants and one new compliance inspector.

This focus and commitment from the highest level of our State’s government
constitutes real progress and represents an encouraging first step. However,
to effectively change our State’s culture of safety, the stick,
or more realistically, the threat of the stick should not be taken off
the table. During the 2012 budget session the House of Representatives
considered and rejected a bill increasing OSHA penalties for when willful
and serious OSHA violations resulted in a workplace fatality. When the
bill failed, a useful tool for deterring the most dangerous conduct with
the most catastrophic consequence had been removed from our toolbox.

Most of us don’t know the fine or penalty for speeding or running
a red light. Simply knowing that we might get caught, that our actions
might negatively affect us, or that the device near the traffic light
that looks like a camera might somehow result in a ticket, is often enough
to alter what might otherwise be dangerous behavior. The same concept,
the threat of consequences and accountability, should be applied to the
workplace.

Governor Mead’s letter stated, “I am hopeful that the growing
focus on safety will mean fewer casualties and safer workplaces in years
to come.” We couldn’t agree more.

We look forward to a time when legislators no longer propose legislation
granting immunity to employers and co-employees for acts of willful and
wanton misconduct. We hope that Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate
may soon be among the lowest in the nation. And finally, we pray that
during future iterations of Workers’ Memorial Day, it becomes impossible
to find speakers who have shared tragedy with their children or the rest of us.

As Mrs. Moss has said, “It seems like people die out there all the
time. They’re leaving wives and children.”

“What 26-year-old should have to plan a funeral?”

Mark Aronowitz is an attorney who directs the not for profit Spence Association
for Employee Rights. He helped organize the Workers Memorial Day commemoration
in Casper.